The Basis for a
Constitution
New times require new thought. We cannot simply offer the US
Constitution as a model for constitutions because it is based on a worldview
that more and more reflects the way we used to think, not the way we would like
to think in the future. It defines life in terms of ownership of material
resources and the overarching need to escape the oppression of authoritarian
leadership. More human-rights-based thinking crept in over the years, but was
relegated to a Bill of Rights that exists supplementary to the actual
Constitution. I submit that the proper order for a healthy society is the
reverse. The original purpose of life and identity of a human being should be
the primary thrust of a constitution, while the unfortunate need for some
governmental authority and control should become secondary.
It could be argued that the rights expressed in the Bill of
Rights are so obvious that they don’t need verbal expression. To young people
they probably are. However we see much evidence in today’s society that
competing in the marketplace and living subject to the many and proliferating
instruments of governmental control has produced a population that lives
defensively, finding self-preservation so burdensome that there is little room
to care actively for human rights on a larger scale. Those who have been
successful in the financial world tend to speak of their own rights much more
than of the needs of others, and tend to see poverty as a sign of failure more
than anything else.
Constitutional rights have become legal rights, and the
legal world dominates modern economic life. Without a wide, encompassing basis
for a constitution, it is inevitable that sooner or later restrictions will
become part of everyday life via a system of laws and societal institutions.
Therefore it is essential to widen the constitution to embrace growth and the
freedoms commensurate with our much greater technological and scientific
knowledge.
We find ourselves in a society where so much is based on
laws and the legal system, yet legal help is circumscribed by access, thus typically
confined to the wealthy. And how burdensome it must be to a corporation to have
to keep a team of lawyers, at huge expense, to manage their existence, what a
waste of productive energy and creativity that could have been applied to
research into better products! In a world where we are largely beyond the need
to labor constantly to produce goods and services, a corporation can be more
financially successful by judicious managing of its relationship to government
and the banks than by producing more and better goods. The Founding Fathers
could not have foreseen such a development.
In short, our constitution, so essential for the creation of
a society with basic freedoms, nonetheless now leaves us powerless to manifest
the deep desire of the population to overcome the massive and widening economic
inequality, poverty on an unimaginable scale in a nation that has dominated the
world economically for decades, government spying on our own people as well as
almost the whole world, overflowing jails full of the mentally ill as well as
our disenfranchised youth …. the list goes on. The real issue is that what is
only part of life has been taken too often to be the whole, even to the extent
of initially allowing slavery because it fit within a worldview that
overemphasized the importance of property.
However, there is nothing wrong with the values expressed in
our constitution that a little reprioritizing couldn’t put right. We want the
future to be a future of trust and cooperation, but there is still a need to keep
a watch on governments in case individuals with power complexes start to take
over. We would like equality and general empowerment rather than a competition
for survival, but we know that taking from the rich to give to the poor is a
recipe for resentment and blame.
We require a new relationship with the natural world and
with each other that guides us towards stewardship and sustainability, and yet
still enables personal growth, freedom and adventure in life. This cannot be
found within the current constitution, due primarily to the overriding
necessity of the Founding Fathers to define a realm of freedom in a world where
that was almost universally denied. Now however, we cannot hope to have freedom
without universal economic freedom and universal human rights.
I believe that the time is right for us to enter a process
that leads us eventually to a definition of life as a basis for a new
constitution.
We need a constitution that emphasizes what it means to be a
modern human being, not one that preserves the old approach of defining
property relations and stating the chain of command. Mature adults should make
decisions for themselves rather than looking to an outside authority. If we
cannot claim our identity as mature, trustworthy adults, then we will not have
that right.
Of course not everyone is mature, and we cannot simply
abandon the necessity for a justice system, but we can put these things into
their proper place, not simply continue on with a Rule of Law by which we
should forever remain dominated and restricted.
Therefore I suggest eight points which I feel are a starting
point for the primary definition of a society which manifests a world that lies
in the future:
Eight fundamental areas to be
addressed in a healthy society:
1. 1. All people at birth inherit the
right to receive parental love and nurturing, leading to growth and development
towards self-actualization. In this process, responsibility is gradually
transferred from the parent to the child.
2.
2. All
people at birth inherit the right to ownership of enough of the created world
to guarantee survival; all people also inherit the responsibility to guarantee
this same right to all other people.
3.
3. All
people at birth inherit the right to education to the level at which they will
be able to continue to pursue their own education as they choose, be able to
fulfill their role as a citizen of the world and participate in all decisions
pertaining to the society in which they live.
4. 4. Society functions to support the
creative endeavors of all adults, in the context of their fulfilling their
basic responsibilities to the whole, facilitating, not hindering, people’s
innovative ideas and entrepreneurship so they can be co-creators.
5.
5. A
justice system is focused on rehabilitation and reconciliation, not punishment
for its own sake.
6.
6. Leadership
is a position of service towards the whole. A true leader is the one who
creates the most leaders, and who creates the most opportunities for growth and
fulfillment for all people.
7.
7. All
people are born with the right to live within a clean and healthy environment,
and have an equal responsibility for preservation of the planet for future
generations.
8.
8. A happy society encourages healthy
relationships, with particular emphasis on marriage practices. Heart will rule
all relationships.
Rights cannot be claimed without responsibility for their
fulfillment being assigned, but in the case of a defining constitution
acceptance of such rights assumes that responsibility lies with the whole.
These questions can arise in designing the constitution. There are clearly many
ways in which such basic rights can be assured by community-level agreement,
and the least restrictive terms should be used within a constitutional document
to allow for individual creativity and insight in its implementation. Once a
society has defined every part of human life by a system of rules, it is most
likely time to start over on a new constitution. Such is the nature of humans.
